Tuesday, July 28

Now which two countries would be conspiring to balkanize Afghanistan?

Somehow I don't think it's Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The obvious prime suspects are Pakistan and Iran; from the following news reports filed yesterday I'll assume Amrullah Salah has those two countries in mind. But there would be another suspect. Way back in September 2012, The Independent reported on a very elaborate plan put foward by a Tory MP to divide up Afghanistan, with each division to be overseen by a different foreign country.

... Afghanistan could be carved into eight regional zones – with some of them potentially ruled by the Taliban – according to a controversial plan under discussion in London and Washington. Code-named "Plan C", the radical blueprint for the future of Afghanistan sets out reforms that would relegate President Hamid Karzai to a figurehead role.

Devised by the Conservative MP and Foreign Office aide Tobias Ellwood in 2011 (when he was Permanent Private Secretary to the then Defence Secretary, Liam Fox), it warns that the country faces a "bleak" future when it is left to fend for itself. ...

A footnote is that Liam Fox, who had to step down to avoid a scandal, is rabidly anti-Russian. Also, I have it on authority that the real Liam Fox was kidnapped just before he became Defense Secretary. He was replaced by a body double who is a shape-shifting alien from another planet. This became an open secret in the British government after Fox was overheard at a defense meeting saying to the 'advisor' who always stuck to him like glue, "Tell me again the name of this hick galaxy and why we're here."I think it had something to do with cricket but don't quote me on that. More recently the British hand was suspected in the strange agreement between Pakistan's ISI and Afghanistan's NDS intelligence services, which set off an uproar in Afghanistan.

The former Afghan NDS (National Directorate of Security) chief Amrullah Saleh said Monday that certain countries are planning to break up Afghanistan in two parts by sparking divisions among Afghans in North and South.

The head of the Green Trend Movement was speaking during the signing of an agreement with Sulaiman Cultural Society and Noor Social Trend from southeastern Paktika and Paktiya provinces.

The agreement between the three movements is aimed at launched joint campaigns to thwart the conspiracies to split Afghanistan.

Saleh promised to stand against all conspiracies to split the nation and insisted that any other flag apart from the national flag of Afghanistan would mean to create divisions among Afghans in a bid to break up the country.

Without naming any specific country Saleh said “all those internal and external groups dreaming to create divisions among Afghans and once again spark civil war, are invalid, since we were one nation and will remain as one nation.”

He said the foreign countries are following their specific interests in breaking up Afghanistan, although he did not elaborate further regarding the targets of the countries looking to break up Afghanistan.

Saleh also insisted that the new generation of Afghanistan will never agree to break up the country, with Sulaiman Cultural Society chief Asifullah Ikhlas saying the main purpose of the agreement is to unite the young generation fo the country and eliminate discrimination.

Amrullah Saleh, the former head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the founder of the Rawand-e Sabz-e Afghanistan (Afghanistan Green Trend) political party, held a press conference on Monday to announce the signing of an agreement with two other groups declaring their support for the Afghan security forces and any others dedicated to defending the people of Afghanistan.

Accompanying Saleh's Green Trend party, leaders of the Sulaiman Ghar cultural society and Noor social movement were also at the press conference to announce their new memorandum of understanding.

In his remarks, Saleh warned the public that the nation's true enemies are those trying to divide it into factions. And he said that any group looking to combat terrorists in Afghanistan should be leant support.

"The fact is that the enemies are the foreigners who strive to divide the people of Afghanistan by name, language and so on to score points for themselves and to provoke people's sentiments against each other," Saleh said on Monday. "They want to use a weak Afghanistan for their own benefits," he added.

Saleh maintained that Afghanistan's enemies believe the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) lack backing from the international community and can be easily defeated.

The stated principles and objectives of the memorandum of understanding are to defend the independence and territorial integrity of the country, protect the Afghan flag, defend the principles and values of the Constitution and fight against all kinds of discrimination.

"Defending the nation's sovereignty, national unification, national flag, territorial integrity, political activities and civil freedoms are our job," Green Trend member Sayed Abdul Hadi Hedayat told TOLOnews. "The raising of other flags alongside the national flag means the division of Afghanistan."

"What Julia Child did for French cooking, Pundita is doing for foreign policy discussion. She's opened a haute pursuit to ordinary people." - Caesar Rodriguez

"Few bloggers think as deeply as Pundita does. And few have her foresight." - Uppity Woman

"There is no other blogger like Pundita. She has carved a niche - part history and part humint - that makes any essay of hers a thing unto itself. In addition there are the sparkles of her dry wit sprinkled through her work." - Dymphna, Gates of Vienna